Y Is For Yacht
by FountainPenguin
Summary: After their yacht runs aground and blows up in "Bigger, Badder, Brutal-er", Tyler and the other first-generations contestants end up stranded in the mutant-infested southeastern area of Wawanakwa and they kinda just... wander 'round for a bit, lookin' for each other and working towards survival. You know how it goes. (Written September 2013)


"Oh, blech," Tyler groaned, spitting out a mouthful of sand. " _Bleh_! Ack! _Blech_! Aw, this sucks! … Huh? Where…?"

He pushed himself up a bit, tilting his head to one side and pounding on his left ear in the hopes of dislodging more sand from his right. Tyler sat back on his heels after that and swiped his eyes back and forth along the beach.

He wasn't alone, which was a relief. A shape lay in a sand heap several meters away, spluttering just as heavily as he had been a moment before. Tyler put one hand to his throbbing head and squinted against the sunlight.

"… Sierra?"

Definitely her. She called his name back to him and straightened up, brushing sand from the folds of her shirt. Her face looked bruised. What little hair she had was soot-sprinkled and standing up funny along her scalp, and she had lost her red cap.

"Tyler?" she shouted a second time.

"Sierra?"

"Tyler?"

"Yeah?"

He crouching, she standing. They both just stood there and stared at one another for what felt like several long minutes.

"What just happened?" Tyler asked at last. "Where's everybody else?" Lindsay especially, but at the moment he would have welcomed anyone. Even Heather.

Well, maybe not Heather.

Sierra shielded her eyes and turned a full circle. "Well, I mean, the boat kinda crashed and all, but other than that, IDK."

"Huh?"

"I don't know." Sierra pointed across the beach. "Come on, we can climb that dune for a better view."

Tyler stood on shakier legs than usual, took a step forward, and immediately fell on his face. He hissed in pain, but he was quick to scramble back up and limp after Sierra as she scaled the sand hill.

"… Whoa."

It was all he could say, and Sierra stammered out, "Oh-em-gee!"

The memories began flowing back piece by piece. Arriving at the island to take part in Season Four. Sitting on the railing with Lindsay. Sailing past Chris, who had been standing on the dock. Everyone in various degrees of panic or confusion or irritation as the yacht had just gone on… on…

"The boat wouldn't stop," Tyler remembered, rubbing his forehead. "We hit the beach. And then we blew up."

Sierra nodded her head a whole bunch of times, and together the two of them stared down at the scattered remains of the boat. Red and white pieces of the hull were blackened and jagged around the edges. One life preserver had ringed a tree branch, and another had been caged by some metal bars that had once been the deck railing.

There was no sign of their fellow contestants.

Tyler stuck his knuckles in his mouth and screamed through them. "Uh, oh no! They're dead! Zombies! Please, no! Not zombies!"

Sierra placed her fists on her hips. "They can't be dead. I have studied up on everyone from Total Drama, and I am _so_ confident in their survival skills. We probably all just got separated in the explosion."

A piece of scrap shifted on the beach below.

"Zombies!" Tyler shouted again, grabbing hold of Sierra's elbow. "We're all gonna die!"

Sierra made a series of noises: "Uh, eh, I, erm, eh…"

Again with the shifting. A green-tinted hand poked out from beneath the wreckage and swiped at the air. She grabbed hold of Tyler too, pulling him tight, and this time she joined in when he screamed.

"Zombies! OMG! OMG!"

Then Sierra took off running down the hill, snatching up an iron bar and lifting it over her head without pausing. She screeched out some war cry that Tyler couldn't quite make out and swung the bar sideways, knocking the large scrap piece away.

Instantly the zombie covered its head and screamed at her just as unintelligibly as she was screaming at it, and then as Sierra stood poised to give a blow to the head, everything seemed to freeze.

"Oh," she said. She put down the bar and raised a hand to her mouth, turning to call back to Tyler, "False alarm, ha ha! Turns out it's just Zeke!"

Tyler's stomach flipped over as he stared back at his old friend. He limped down the dune to join Sierra and, after several seconds of hesitation, crouched down close to Ezekiel's side.

"Hey there, Zed. How ya doin'?"

In answer, Ezekiel pawed frantically at his neck, straining against the spiked collar he was wearing and the chain connected to it. Tyler followed the chain with his eyes to another piece of railing that had been wedged beneath a heavy hull scrap.

"I guess we should get him out," Sierra said. She reached towards Ezekiel, but he flinched away from her and scrabbled back along the sand. "Hey, get back here. I'm trying to help!"

"I'll try," offered Tyler, swallowing hard. "It's Tyler Time." He slid slowly along the beach, keeping his head low, and reached out one hand. He snapped his fingers. "Hey, Z-Man. Over here, buddy."

The reunion at the yacht had been the first time Tyler had seen Ezekiel since… Well, practically since the third season. One look at him, at what he had become, made bile rise in his throat, but his old friend Zeke was still in there somewhere. He had been walking around on two legs back on that other beach - something that Courtney had seemed secretly pleased with. Tyler had heard rumors that Ezekiel's farm wasn't too far from her area, and Izzy had e-mailed him pictures of Courtney sneaking from her house on dark nights and setting out bowls of milk or plates of food. . .as well as several photos of her forcefully grabbing Ezekiel by the collar and somewhat strangling him as she tried to shake sense back into his head. Tyler could imagine the scene as clearly as if he himself had been there: _Now listen here! I was a C.I.T! I always win! We are going to whip you back into shape whether you like it or not!_

"Come on, Zed."

Ezekiel retreated behind the far edge of the hull piece. The chain made clinking, slithering sounds as he dragged it through the sand after him. Tyler circled the scrap and Ezekiel circled away from him, eyes wary and darting.

"Aw, Zeke! C'mon! I know you're still in there somewhere! I just want to help. I'm just gonna take that collar and snap it right off."

Ezekiel continued to skirt away from him, crossing hand over hand backwards. There was… emotion in his eyes. A feeling of being hurt. Betrayed.

"Zed," Tyler called softly.

Sierra stomped one foot and pointed at Ezekiel. "Just _sit_ already!"

Ezekiel sat with a clumsy shuffling of feet. He put out his tongue and began to pant.

"Huh." Tyler reached towards his old friend again. Ezekiel growled at him softly, but Sierra growled right back, and Ezekiel shut up. Tyler ran his fingers around the collar, trying to catch a grip on it. He strained against it, then called to Sierra, "It's not working!"

"Give me that." Sierra dropped to Tyler's side and felt around the collar too. Ezekiel whined softly, and then there was a sudden _snap!_ The chain fell away, and Ezekiel didn't waste a single second. He took off along the beach, calling out with a series of growls and throat-noises.

"You could have said 'Thank you!' Sierra shouted after him, and shook her head. "So much for gratitude."

Tyler watched as Ezekiel disappeared into the forest. "I hope he'll be okay."

Sierra glanced at the sky. "We'd better find the others and then try building some sort of shelter. If I know Chris, he's not gonna come find us for at least a few hours."

"If he comes at all."

"Of course he'll…" Sierra hesitated, then sighed. "If he comes at all. So you take right side and I'll take left?"

Tyler limped across the beach and began shifting through debris. More than once he sliced his fingers on a serrated edge of hull and twice he tripped in the sand for seemingly no reason at all. Stupid sand.

"I found Noah!" Sierra called at the same moment that a moan sounded from beneath the piece of scrap on Tyler's left. He lifted it away.

"I've got Leshawna!" He reached a hand out to her. "Heh. This is just like 'Sharp Objects Flying at Your Head'."

"… What?"

"That reality show we were on together? The one with the treadmills and sharp objects flying at your head. You don't remember that?"

Leshawna continued to stare at him, then weakly smiled. "Oh. _That_ reality show." She stood, wobbled, and grabbed hold of Tyler's shoulder for balance. "Hon, no offense to you and all those great times we spent together, but after this I think I'm gonna swear off reality shows for good."

Tyler led her back over to Sierra, who was watching without much interest or concern as Noah took one, two steps, and then collapsed on the ground. He only looked up when Tyler's footsteps crunched on the sand beside him.

"Does your foot hurt?"

"Uh, yeah, why?"

Noah reached out with his right arm, gasped and tucked it close to his side, and then reached out his left. He slid the leg of Tyler's tracksuit up a bit, and Tyler flinched and pulled away when Noah touched his ankle.

"Stop it, man! That smarts!"

"Swelling. I think you sprained it."

"Yeah, so?"

Noah rolled onto his back and stared up at him. "Well, _'so'_ nothing. I just thought you should maybe know that."

"C'mon string beans, we don't need to fight," Leshawna scolded them gently, and Sierra pointed along the beach and into the forest.

"We need to find everybody else and then figure out how to build some sort of shelter. Hmm. If I could just get my hands on some reeds…"

"Reeds, yes," Noah said, and Tyler glared at him.

"Hey, there's no need to be all sarcastic, man. Remember the boats back in Egypt?"

Noah stared back at him. "I wasn't being sarcastic. If I had some reeds- _ow!_ " Sierra had just taken his wrist and tried to pull him to his feet. She let go instantly and Noah fell back into the sand, clutching his arm and gasping and whimpering.

"That does not look good," Leshawna commented. As if they hadn't noticed.

"Broken," confirmed Sierra, peering down at him. "See, this one time I broke both of my arms-"

"Hey!"

Tyler and Leshawna looked up and Sierra spun around to see a soot-stained Sadie waving at them from the crest of another sand dune.

"Guys, over this way! Me and Katie and Trent, uh, well, we're over here!"

Leshawna said "Sounds good", Tyler took a few awkward steps, Sierra sprinted off to double-check that everyone was out of the wreckage, and Noah, with some difficulty, held out both his arms and said, "Carry me." Leshawna did, Tyler clinging onto her shoulder, and they probably made a bit of an odd sight as they trudged up the hill after Sadie.

Instantly Tyler was feeling more optimistic. This section of sand was cleared of boat wreckage, giving the beach a lighter, happier look. A small heap of sticks and stones had been gathered together. Weapons against wildlife? The beginnings of a campfire? Tyler wasn't sure. Katie and Trent were standing ankle-deep in the lake water, and when Tyler crested the dune he saw Katie shaking Trent by the shoulders and saying, "We'll have to repopulate the earth!"

"Yo!" Leshawna lifted Noah a bit in her arms. "Where do you want me to put this?"

Katie pointed across the beach. "Well, since we were going to start organizing our supplies alphabetically, how about in the 'J' section for 'Jerks'?"

Wait a minute… . _J_?

Noah shot her a sharp glare, to which she stuck her tongue out at him and swung one arm around Trent. Leshawna merely shrugged and put him down beside the sticks and stones. Tyler sat down beside him with a sigh and said, "I hope Lindsay's doing okay."

Sadie picked up two branches from their small pile. "Owen went swimming back the way we came to, like, get help from Chris and everything, so all we really have to do is sit tight and wait for rescue."

Tyler said, "What about everybody else?"

"Fire." Sadie began rubbing her sticks together. "Hopefully they'll see the smoke and come this way."

"Or they could assume the forest was on fire and run in the opposite direction."

Sadie sighed. "Noah, I don't know what to do, okay? I'm trying as hard as I can."

"In that case, hand me a few of those sticks and bring me some reeds."

She tossed him the twigs and headed off, coming back a moment later with the requested reeds and Sierra, who enthusiastically helped Noah bind up his broken arm.

"This is so ridiculous," Noah grumbled as he stared down at his makeshift cast, "but I guess it'll do."

Tyler stood at last. "Aw, this sucks. I don't want to just sit here and hope all my friends stumble blindly into our camp. I'm going out to look for them."

"You have a sprained ankle," Sierra reminded him, to which Tyler crossed his arms defensively and said, "So?"

"U-um," Katie stammered, pointing along the beach, "I think we should _all_ get moving."

"What is _that_?"

Leshawna put one hand to her forehead. "Guys, I know this may sound crazy, but it looks like a _shark_."

"With _legs_!"

"Run for it!" Sadie hollered, and took off for the treeline with Leshawna right on her heels. Katie and Trent each grabbed Tyler by an elbow and helped him stumble after her. Pain shot up his ankle each time he put his weight on it. It was panic that was driving him onwards. He kept stammering out, "Shark with legs, that doesn't make any sense, this is crazy, this can't be happening, can't be a shark, can't be a shark, oh no, but all those teeth and that face and it had arms and… and…"

Finally they all collapsed among beds of pine needles and maple leaves. Tyler stared up at the sky, chest heaving, his ankle burning.

"D-do you think it already ate the others?"

Leshawna shook her head and puffed out, "I didn't see any blood on it."

Tyler squeezed shut his eyes. "Aw man, aw man, aw man, I hope Lindsay's doin' okay."

There were snapping noises. Branches. Footsteps. Tyler pushed himself up and stared back the way they had come with wide-eyed panic. Katie's sharp fingernails sunk into his shoulder. "We're so totally doomed!"

The bushes shivered, and Tyler scrabbled backwards on his hands and rear, but then the undergrowth parted to reveal Sierra and Noah. He pointed with his good hand at Katie, Leshawna, Sadie, Tyler, and Trent in turn.

"You, you, you, you, and you owe me candy corn. Thanks for sticking around to help the injured."

"It didn't eat you?" Tyler asked incredulously at the same time Trent said, "Oh, Noah, did we-?"

"Oh, it tried." Sierra thumped a fist against her chest. "But it took one look at me and backed off."

"Yes, _clearly_ you are my only real friend."

She put her hands on her hips then. "Well, of course I was going to save you. I mean, _duh_. Last time I checked, you're the only one of us who has really had any sort of medical training - other than, like, me just a little bit. So until we find Harold or Courtney, you're our MVP." Then she leaned close to his ear, speaking through gritted teeth. Tyler couldn't make out all of what she was saying, but it involved the word 'Cody' and seemed only to irritate Noah further.

"Right," he said at last, pushing Sierra's hand away. "Time to play doctor."

"First we need to build a fire." Sadie pointed at the sky. "Then the others can follow the smoke."

"We need food," Katie corrected. "Otherwise we'll all starve before help arrives."

"Weapons." Leshawna looked around them uneasily. "If that shark really did have arms'n legs, then there's no tellin' what else might be hidin' around out here, know what I'm saying?"

Tyler said, "We need to go out and find everybody else."

Trent: "The best thing to do when you're lost is to stick together."

"Food," Katie repeated.

"Fire," Sadie said.

"No way, guys- shelter always comes first." That was Sierra. "Remember the bus just before third season? If I know Chris (Which I do) then he won't come and get us for at _least_ another twenty-four hours."

"Well, if that's true, then we're still gonna need food."

"We need _weapons_."

"We need _fire_."

"Shelter."

"We need to find the others!"

"Food!"

"Fire!"

"Guys," Trent protested, holding up his hands, "Let's divide and conquer, all right? Katie, you go look for berries or nuts or whatever. Sadie, you take charge of the fire. Leshawna, sharp stones, branches, whatever you can find. Sierra, you look for anything we can use as shelter. Everyone stay close- if you can't see at least one other person, then you're probably getting too far away."

"And I'll go find the others."

"Tyler, buddy, you have a sprained ankle. Just sit down over there with Noah so you don't make it any worse."

" _Lindsay_ is out there! And so are the rest of my friends! Never leave a man behind!"

Leshawna put a hand on his shoulder. "Trent's right, hon. We can't have you wandering about or we'll lose you too."

Tyler shook his head and pushed her hand away. "I'm going in! _Never leave a man behind_."

Trent said again, "Dude, you're injured."

"I'll go with him," Sierra offered. "Buddy system. And after I started watching Total Drama, I taught myself how to navigate in the woods. We won't get lost, and if his ankle starts hurting then we'll come right back."

"No, Sierra," Trent tried protesting, placing a hand to his forehead, and she scowled at him.

"My Codykins is out there too. And I've also studied everyone from Total Drama, and I'm pretty sure I know what actions everyone would take for survival."

"Sierra-"

"If Chris shows up, do you really think he's going to wait around for everybody else to get here?"

Leshawna sighed and took hold of Trent's shoulder this time. "Don't waste your breath, hon. They've got their hearts set on this."

Noah smirked and waved at them both. "Have fun wandering around in the dangerous forest."

"You're coming with us."

The sarcastic smile dropped from his face. "What?"

"Sierra," Trent said again, but he shook his head and walked off in search of shelter.

"If we find someone who's injured, we need you to tell us what we should do to not make things worse."

"But if someone comes into camp-"

"Someone who is unconscious or critically injured is not going to be stumbling into camp!" Sierra snapped her fingers and pointed at the ground beside her as if Noah were a naughty puppy that she was telling to 'Heel'. He resisted for a moment more, but at last their party of three set off into the forest.

Silence. Only footsteps crunching on dirt and grass and long-dead leaves.

Noah: "Seventy-seven cents says that Izzy's fashioned herself a bow and arrows and gone into 'native hunter' mode."

Nobody tried to argue with him. More silence. Finally Tyler said, "D'ya think she'll shoot at everything that moves?"

"She probably would, so we should go back to camp and wait for everyone else to show up."

Sierra snapped at him, "I've got my eyes on you."

A stream trickled across their path. A small animal had been drinking from it, and it scuttled away into the bushes as they approached.

"Hmm." Tyler scratched his head. "That explosion probably didn't blow anyone out _this_ far. Maybe we should head downstream. That'll lead us back to the lake, right?"

Sierra said, "Well, heading out of the forest and circling the beach _does_ seem like a good plan. Out in the open for rescuers to see you. Maybe Geoff, Gwen, Bridgette, DJ… Maybe Heather and Harold too. Oh, and Codykins!"

Noah raised his left shoulder in a one-armed shrug. "Meh."

So the three of them picked their way through the trees, and they found Heather by following her voice.

"Courtney, can't you control your freaky mutant boyfriend dog _thing_?"

"Of course I can! Ezekiel! We walk on two feet! _Two feet_ , you little slimeball! I taught you better than this!"

"That's not exactly what I meant! Get him away! Down, Zeke! Down! Sit! Shoo!"

Tyler thrust aside a low, leafy branch, widening his eyes with slight surprise as he saw Ezekiel, four-legged, running circles around Heather, herding her backwards like some sort of sheepdog. Heather didn't seem injured, but a long bloody slash cut diagonally all across Courtney's face. She was holding a branch too, waving it around as she spoke.

"You're egging him on just to spite me."

"Why would I want to _spite him_?" Heather shrieked back. "I didn't even like him when he acted half like a real person!"

"Guys?" Tyler called out to them.

"I will not have you undo all my hard work-"

"Guys?"

"-not the one who's dating a giant _robot_ -"

"We are _not_ dating!"

"Guys!" he shouted, and all three of them looked over.

"Zeke!" Heather pointed frantically in their direction. "Hey, see that girl with the purple hair? See Sierra? Huh, Zeke? She's the one who blew up the plane back in Drumheller, remember? Your home? And she hunted you in Africa?"

"Um, hello?" That was Courtney, and Sierra said, "Hey, ex _cuse_ me?" Then Courtney again: "How stupid do you think he is?"

Noah seemed content to watch a fight break out, but even though Tyler didn't particularly like either one of the girls, he reached out one hand anyway.

"Whoa, guys. Katie, Sadie, Trent, Leshawna, we all set up a camp back that way-"

"Leshawna? Ugh." Heather put a hand to her cheek and winced at an old memory. Still backing away from a growling Ezekiel she said, "No thanks. I'd rather fly solo than stick around awaiting rescue with _her_."

Noah tried to fold his arms and winced as he did so. "Have fun then, and tell the land sharks we said hello."

"Oh please." Courtney snapped once more at Ezekiel, telling him to get back on two legs, before she looked at Noah again. "Land sharks? Are you kidding me?"

"We all saw it," Sierra said.

Tyler scrubbed his knuckles across his chin. Then he shrugged. "But, y'know Heather, none of us are gonna miss you, so if you _want_ to keep wandering around looking for that capital-G _jerk_ robot boyfriend-"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Heather stomped one foot. "Courtney may date deranged, mutilated, unhuman _freaks_ , but I don't! I am a-"

"F-f-free! Eek!"

Noah raised one eyebrow, Tyler widened his eyes a bit, Sierra murmured, "Like…" Heather shouted a word that Beth never would have let her get away with and nearly fell back into the sand.

"He can _talk_?"

"Of course he can talk," snapped Courtney. " _I_ taught him. _I've_ been fixing him."

Ezekiel was on two legs again, though slouching. He made a few warbled noises, then repeated himself.

"F-f-f-ree! Eek! N-no! N-n-not! F-freak!"

"Whatever." Heather waved a dismissive hand at him, then tilted back her head to stare up at the sky. "Ugh. I hope Chris shows up soon."

"Eek. Z… eke…"

"You've upset him." Courtney slapped one end of the stick against her palm. Twice.

"Whatever," Heather said again, and she shoved Tyler away by the shoulder. She walked a few paces and turned left. Sierra called after her, saying that she'd find their camp in the other direction by following the stream, and without pause Heather spun on her heels and headed off again.

"Z-Zeke!" Ezekiel shouted after her. "N-not! F-f-freak!" He stood, hunched, for a few lingering seconds, then whipped around and bolted away, shoving bushes and branches from his path.

"Hey!" Courtney took off after him. "Ezekiel! Get back here!"

Eva was the next camper they came across. She had one hand against a tree trunk, and the other was clenching a tall, thin branch. This was apparently her walking stick, because she stumbled a step or two forward when she saw them.

"Where's everybody else?" was her first question.

Tyler could only stare at her. "Whoa, you look _horrible_! What happened to your leg?"

"Broken," Eva told him impatiently, her hand sliding against bark. "Hit a tree right after the dumb explosion. Snapped it. It'll heal. Is anybody dead?"

Tyler and Sierra both looked at Noah expectantly, him being 'doctor' and all. His mouth was open, his good hand was raised. Pointing.

"That's," he said. "That's… not good."

Eva threw him a frustrated look. "Have you found anybody else?"

"How long have you been walking on that? Sit down. I need more sticks and reeds."

"Maybe an hour, _no_ , and… what?"

"Sit down," Noah repeated firmly, and Eva said, "We don't have time to treat my dumb scratches! Lives could be in danger, Fruitcake!"

"Yes! _Your_ life!" He glared at Tyler and Sierra, then flicked his good hand. Shooing them away. "Where are my reeds?"

Reeds didn't grow in this part of the forest (Did they grow in the forest at all?), but Tyler and Sierra scrambled off anyway. Working together, they gathered sticks and vines. Once or twice they saw a bald squirrel. It was only then that Tyler knew that his ankle pain and his stress over their predicament were going to his head, because the last time he had checked, squirrels did _not_ shoot laser beams from their eyes.

"I'm kinda scared," he blurted out to Sierra.

"For Lindsay?"

"Well, yeah. Like, definitely. But I'm scared for everyone. I mean, there was a _shark_. With arms and legs! Explosions! All of us runnin' around… separated… lost. Some of us are hurt. Someone might even die. Zombies… They spring up on you just when you think they're dead. Like chickens."

Sierra looked at him, then shifted the sticks in her arms and placed one hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Tyler."

 _It's going to be okay._

 _It's going to be okay._

 _It's going to be okay._

He smiled at the old memories those words brought back. Good memories from home. Back when people were safe.

"Heh. Promise?"

Sierra gave him a hug - a brief, one-handed hug - and Tyler awkwardly hugged her back, not wanting to offend her and not really sure what else to do.

"Well, sure. I promise."

They returned in time to watch as Eva broke a stick over her knee, then yelped in pain and chucked the broken halves of stick at Noah when he scolded her.

"I don't need your help!" she shouted. "I don't need any of this! I just need to find Izzy and everybody else!"

 _Never leave a man behind._

Eva started to stand up and Noah pushed her back down with his good hand. She turned her head away as Tyler and Sierra approached with the sticks and vines. Tyler's fingers shook as he worked to build a splint around Eva's leg; she was fiercely glaring at him, growling if his hand ever brushed against her skin too long or too often.

"This is really bad," Sierra said, frowning at Eva's knee. "I broke my leg two years ago at the Chris McLean Fanclub picnic-"

"It's good enough! Can we just get moving now?"

"Not yet. We're not finishe-"

"I don't need help! I'm not a baby!" Eva drew her one good leg up close to her chest and hugged it, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. "Everybody's out there! And if they're not careful, the dumb tree octopuses are gonna get 'em!"

There was silence.

Tyler gave a snicker.

"I'm sorry," Noah said at last, sticking one finger into his left ear, "but did you say _tree octopuses_?"

"I saw one myself," Eva snapped back, and then trailed off. She frowned. "That sounded a lot more dumb when it came out of my mouth."

Sierra shielded her eyes and pointed over the treetops. "I see smoke. Looks like Sadie got the fire started."

Eva asked, "Forest fire?" and Tyler quickly explained about how Trent, Katie, Sadie, and Leshawna had made their camp.

"We shouldn't move her," Noah began, but he received a furious glare from Eva.

"I'm not just gonna sit here!" As if to prove this she grabbed Tyler's forearm and used it to pull herself up to her feet, nearly pulling him down in the process. She wobbled unsteadily, pinwheeling her arms, and collapsed against Sierra.

"See?" Eva gritted her teeth. "I'm fine. I can walk. Let's go find everybody else."

Noah reached out to her. "Eva-"

"I'm not weak!" she shouted, slapping his wrist away. The movement made her sway, and Tyler quickly grabbed her shoulder and propped her back up again. "Stop saying that! I don't need your help! I'm! Fine!"

For a few seconds Noah just looked at her. "No one said you were weak, Iron Woman."

"You were thinking it. I know you were."

He shook his head and started to lead the way through the trees, keeping his eyes on the smoke in the distance. Eva kept pushing them away, but Tyler and Sierra flanked her on either side, their hands slightly outstretched, prepared to catch her if she fell.

"Should've been me," Noah said over his shoulder once, almost amused. "I don't use my legs a whole lot anyway. I'll trade you: You can have my broken arm."

Eva opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly she stopped. They all stopped. A whirring noise was sounding over their heads. _Chop, chop, chop, chop._

"Chris's helicopter!" shouted Tyler, pointing up at it. "Woo-hoo, yeah! We're saved!"

Chris had his megaphone, and he was laughing. "Oh man, I wish I could've seen your guys' faces! I mean, blowing up your _yacht_? That must have been absolutely freakin' _hilarious!"_


End file.
